


The Monkey Is Reaching

by akire_yta



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Apocalypse, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 11:26:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Larry tries to tell everyone that something isn't right with the world, but no one really pays much attention to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Monkey Is Reaching

**Author's Note:**

> Set after Larry’s trip into space. Slight timeline fudging with real world events.
> 
> Written for [**pie_is_good** for the apocalyptathon](http://pie-is-good.livejournal.com/)

"No, no, no, no!"

Charlie slid silently through the half-opened door, closing it behind him to block the curious stares from the hall. Larry was standing inside a storm of paper, throwing sheaves of printouts over his shoulder as he dug down through the academic strata to the surface of the desk.

"Problem?" Charlie asked. He hadn’t seen Larry this agitated since that time Paulitzer disassembled his string theory.

Larry’s head snapped up at Charlie’s question, eyes unfocused for a split second before he returned to the here and now. "No, problem," he muttered darkly, already sounding distracted again. "Just having a little trouble balancing protons and neutrons."

Charlie slid onto the lumpy couch Larry refused to throw away. "Use smaller scales," he said with a laugh.

That just made Larry roll his eyes. "Very funny, Charles. No, my problem is collision speeds…or perhaps, no…"

Charlie reached down and scooped up some of the printouts. Streams of numbers flowed over his mind as he flipped through the pages. Charlie was familiar with the way Larry worked. He had to meander through half his vocabulary before he could get to the heart of the problem. Charlie had time for it today.

"Hey," he exclaimed as a familiar logo flicked past. "The LHC! One month to go, then we’ll finally see what it was like when this all began." He looked up at Larry, expecting a mirror of his own scientific enthusiasm.

Larry just frowned, pensive.

Charlie stood up. "What’s the matter? Are the particle physicists refusing to share their toys with the cosmologists or something?"

Larry chewed on the pad of his thumb. "Or something, indeed. Charles, do you have time to help me with some equations today?"

* * *

Amita poked her head around the door, nodding as Larry waved to her with one hand, his other holding the phone to his ear.

"Ah, yes, but if I could just…"

Amita raised an eyebrow as Larry stopped in mid-word, an unprecedented event. Her surprise turned to concern as Larry slowly lowered the receiver into the cradle. His head hung low, and she could feel his exhaustion from across the room.

"Larry?"

The older man didn’t respond for a long moment. "I just want to take a closer look at the schematics. That’s all. Then maybe I could put my concerns to rest."

Amita hugged her textbooks closer to the text. "Is this still about the LHC?"

He sighed, a long sound dripping with forced patience. "Yes." He braced his arms against the desk, head hung low. "Do you know," he said finally, breaking the awkward silence. "I wasn’t looking for this. For anything. I didn’t want to be like those idiot biologists calling for a court order." He straightened, hands balled loosely into fists. "I just wanted to think about gravity, about the forces that shaped our universe. That’s all."

"No biggie then." Amita smiled, knowing it wasn’t reaching her eyes. "Why can’t you do just that?" she asked more seriously. "I’m sure if there was a problem, they would have found it already. CERN has some of the greatest scientific minds working on the collider. I’m sure everything will be fine."

Larry picked up a stick of chalk. "And Ptolomy was sure the Sun revolved around the Earth." He tossed stick once, twice. "No," he said slowly. "The genie is almost out of the bottle." His mouth twisted in a wry mockery of a smile. "Or the black hole is almost out of the hadron collider, as the case may be." He put the chalk down and picked up a sheaf of papers. She watched him visibly pull himself together. "I have another number here…do you know anyone who speaks French?"

Amita let herself out as Larry started dialling.  
* * *

"Larry?" He didn’t lift his head at the light tap on his door.

He sighed. "In here, Megan."

He heard her close the door behind her, and her footsteps tracked her movement around the wreck of his office until she stopped just beyond arms reach. "I was going to ask if you were okay, but I’m thinking that’s a redundant question now."

Larry sighed again and finally looked up. Megan was smiling gently, and the late afternoon sunlight pouring through the windows kissed her features, creating an almost ethereal glow. "You are a truly beautiful woman, Megan," he said bluntly.

She ducked her head, but Larry caught the faint hint of a blush. "Now I know something’s up." She took a step away and settled on the sofa, pushing a pile of papers away to make room. She patted the spot beside her invitingly. "Care to talk about it."

"Not much to tell, really," he admitted even as he crossed the room to her side. "I am the archetypal scientist who cried wolf."

Megan tilted her head. "As I remember the story, the boy who cried wolf was right in the end."

Larry rolled his head back until he was looking at the ceiling. He covered his face with his hands. "But in being right, everyone was eaten." He rubbed futilely at his burning eyes, dropped his hands in his lap. "A pyhrric victory at best."

Megan’s fingers were slim and warm and dry as they intertwined with his. "The difference being," she pointed out gently. "You have never made such a claim before." He thumb stroked the ridge of his finger before tapping out her next point. "You are an internationally renowned scientist." She leaned forward until her breath was ghosting his cheek. "You’ve even been into orbit. Surely that gives you some basis on which to highlight a pretty big potential problem in the experimental setup."

"Experimental setup…" he repeated softly. He lifted his eyes and studied her face. "Have you been talking to Charles? Did he put you up to this?"

She looked indignant. "Yes, I’ve spoken to Charles -- but because I had put myself up to this. We’re worried about you…" her voice dropped to the tone of a confession. "I’m worried about you."

He touched her cheek, guided her face in until they were touching, forehead to forehead. "I’m worried about us all," he whispered. "But nothing I do seems to make any difference."

"Are you giving up?"

Larry closed his eyes, his world contracting until it was just the two of them. "In two days, CERN run their first test firing," he told her softly. "And right now, there is nothing I can say or do that will prevent it." Megan’s arm came around him, pulling him closer. "Cry wolf."

* * *

The leaves rustled with the warm breeze, showering Larry in the mingled scents of monastery and city beyond. He watched a single leaf come free and spiral delicately onto the ground before his feet.

"Larry?"

Charlie smiled weakly, and Larry gestured to the seat beside him. Rather than sitting, the younger man stayed standing, shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot. "How’s…how’s sabbatical treating you?"

Larry smiled softly and tilted his head to look up at Charlie. The setting sun was casting strange patterns of shadow and light, changing familiar perspectives. "You mean how am I adjusting to being fired?"

"Hey," Charlie breathed, fighting to keep his tone upbeat. "You’ve got tenure, they can’t fire you."

"The name of the thing does not change the spirit of the thing." Larry leaned over and plucked the leaf off the ground. "That which we call a rose would smell as sweet by any other name."

Charlie finally sat down. "Oblique references _and_ Shakespeare. Should I be worried?"

Larry rolled the shaft of the leaf between his thumb and forefinger. "Do you really want me to answer that, Charles?"

Charlie shifted uncomfortably as he reached for his satchel. "I, ahh, I took another look at the CERN data." He shrugged at Larry’s sideways glance. "Don’t ask me how I got it. I just…I looked at all the numbers, Larry. I doubled checked. I’m sorry, but…but you’re wrong on this one."

The leaf was a verdant green, a picture of health in every way except that it had fallen from the tree. He held it up in the air between them. "My so-called sabbatical is starting to feel like a lifetime in a cave, looking for the light source no-one else thinks exists."

"Larry?" he asked again, confused. Little boy lost, still, after a professional lifetime together.

Larry looked up. "The problem, I suspect, is not in the numbers. It is in the shape." He smiled, feeling strangely at peace. "But I thank-you for looking, Charles." He paused, feeling the seconds racing by. "In fact, thank-you for everything."

Charlie nodded mutely. Larry twitched the leaf in his fingers, twisting the stalk between thumb and forefinger, making it spiral in a crude mockery of its fall. "No one else will listen to me any more," he murmured. He spread his hand, and the leaf fell to the ground once more, spiralling and dancing in a way too complex for Larry to follow. "I guess we’ll find out either way tomorrow."

Charlie shifted, hands clasped together on his lap. "For what it’s worth…" he snorted a mirthless laugh that died too soon to be real. "I think…I really hope you’re wrong, Larry."

Larry smiled and stood up. "So do I, Charles. Believe me, so do I."

He knew he wasn’t.

* * *

The wind was picking up, making Megan’s hair whip across her face. Larry reached up and brushed it off her face, cupping her jaw. His other hand sought hers, their fingers twining together one last time.

He had to stand on his toes to whisper in her ear above the roar of the collapsing atmosphere, matter and gravity tearing each other apart.

"Maybe next time, we’ll get it right."

He pulled her in for one last perfect kiss as the world ended.

* * *

The monkey is reaching  
For the moon in the water.  
Until death overtakes him  
He'll never give up.  
If he'd let go the branch and  
Disappear in the deep pool,  
The whole world would shine  
With dazzling pureness.  
 _Hakuin_

 

Notes:  
Title from a Buddhist koan  
Info about the LHC can be found [here](http://lhc-machine-outreach.web.cern.ch/lhc-machine-outreach/).  
And info about how it might destroy the world is [here](http://science.howstuffworks.com/large-hadron-collider7.htm)

 


End file.
